Thursday, May 2, 2013

MAY Sunday Kind of Love: Richard Blanco and Sami Miranda

Sunday May 19, 20135-7m Busboys & Poets2021 14th St. NW Washington, DC 20009Hosted by Sarah Browning and Katy Riche5$ online or at the doorAs always, open mic follows!Co-sponsored by Busboys and Poets & Split This Rock

Richard Blanco's acclaimed first book of poetry, City of a Hundred Fires, explores
the yearnings and negotiation of cultural identity as a Cuban-
American, and received the Agnes Starrett Poetry Prize from the
University of Pittsburgh Press. His second book, Directions to The Beach of the Dead, won
the Beyond Margins Award from the PEN American Center for its continued
exploration of the universal themes of cultural identity and
homecoming. Looking for The Gulf Motel, (University of Pittsburgh
Press, 2012) examines the blurred lines of gender, the frailty of his
father-son relationship, and the intersection of his cultural and sexual
identities as a Cuban-American gay man living in rural

In
January 2013, Blanco was selected by President Obama to be the
inaugural poet, joining the ranks of Robert Frost and Maya Angelou.

Blanco's poems have appeared in top literary journals, including The
Nation, the New Republic, Ploughshares, Michigan Quarterly
Review, and TriQuarterly Review; and several anthologies including, The Best American Poetry, Great American Prose Poems, Breadloaf Anthology of New American Poets, and American Poetry: The Next Generation. Blanco
is recipient of two Florida Artist Fellowships, a Residency Fellowship
from the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, and is a John Ciardi
Fellow of the Bread Loaf Writers Conference. A builder of cities as well
as poems, he holds a bachelors of science degree in Civil Engineering
and a Master in Fine Arts in Creative Writing.

Sami Miranda is an educator, poet and visual artists who makes his home in
Washington, DC. His work has been published in Al Pie De la Casa Blanca,
Full Moon on K St, the Chiron Review, DC Poets Against the War
Anthology, MiPoesias.com and Beltway among others. He has performed at
venues such as the Kennedy Center, The Smithsonian Museum of American
Art, The Smithsonian Museum of African Art and GALA Theatre.

Sami
curated the Sabor Sunday reading series in Washington DC, that brought
two poets, a trio of musicians and two visual artists into
conversation. He is currently recording a jazz and poetry collaboration
with bass player Pepe Gonzalez. He develops and facilitates
interactive poetry workshops for youth and adults and holds an MFA from
The Bennington Writing Seminars.

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Blog This Rock is a community forum sponsored by Split This Rock, an organization that calls poets to the center of public life and celebrates and promotes socially engaged poetry.
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